Yan Li
Chin J Cancer. 2013 May;32(5):225-32. doi: 10.5732/cjc.013.10051.
A total of 23 new cancer medicines or indication expansions were approved by the U. S. Food and Drug Administration in 2012. Among these, 12 are new molecular entities (NMEs)--new chemical or biological drugs approved for the first time for oncologic use--and 10 of these NMEs are molecular targeted agents. Among the 10 targeted agents, 4 are anti-angiogenesis agents and 2 are Bcr-Abl pathway inhibitors, targeting well established targets validated by previously approved agents such as bevacizumab (Avastin) or imatinib (Gleevec). Despite this progress, several questions remain: Do these newly approved agents provide sufficient treatment options to manage the broad spectrum of cancers we deal with in the clinic? Where will the next wave of new cancer drugs come from? Where should R&D efforts be invested to continue improve cancer treatment and management, especially for tumor types uniquely prevalent in China? This editorial and the review articles in this special issue of Chinese Journal of Cancer provide an in depth review of the progress and challenges in developing targeted cancer therapies, as well as an outlook of new research areas where near term breakthroughs are expected to overcome some of these challenges.
2012年，美国食品药品监督管理局共批准了23种新的癌症药物或适应症扩展。其中，12种是新分子实体（NMEs）——首次获批用于肿瘤治疗的新化学或生物药物，且这些新分子实体中有10种是分子靶向药物。在这10种靶向药物中，4种是抗血管生成药物，2种是Bcr-Abl通路抑制剂，它们靶向的是已被如贝伐单抗（阿瓦斯汀）或伊马替尼（格列卫）等先前获批药物验证的成熟靶点。尽管取得了这一进展，但仍存在几个问题：这些新获批的药物能否提供足够的治疗选择来应对我们在临床上遇到的各种癌症？下一波新型癌症药物将来自何处？为持续改善癌症治疗与管理，尤其是针对在中国特别常见的肿瘤类型，研发工作应投入到哪些方面？这篇社论以及《中国癌症杂志》本期特刊中的综述文章，深入回顾了靶向癌症治疗研发方面的进展与挑战，并展望了有望在短期内取得突破以克服其中一些挑战的新研究领域。
